Be At Peace
by Kathryn Claire O'Connor
Summary: (Alternate title "1 Thessalonians") Part of the "Highlights" series. Unconnected drabbles centered around the Martinez family from Carmen and Javi's POV. Includes a reposted version of the original "Be At Peace."
1. Chapter 1

And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; (4:11)

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Javier loved building projects like this. They were when he thought of his father the most, fondly remembering the man who had taught him what had proved to be an invaluable skill and the days during which he had done so. Those had been good times, simpler times when he had been an innocent, happy little kid growing up in Mexico. And surrounded by the skeleton of the Mitchells' shed, alone while Adam Mitchell was out eating lunch with some friends, was a great place to remember those times.

Javier smiled, remembering the man who had generally possessed the patience of a saint when dealing with his three sons.

As a child, Javier had been an endless chatterbox. It had been his father who had taught him to embrace the calming silence of a day like today instead of trying to add noise to it. The elder Martinez had helped him realize that it was days like today that was the best for spending a day in quiet meditation and maybe even singing, drawing a little bit closer to the God that they both loved.

It was his father who had taught him the value of working hard, earning your keep or your paycheck, and giving yourself a real reason to sleep well at night. After a day of hard work, it hadn't taken Javier long to figure out that it was hard to keep your eyes open. And as a teenager that had meant that he hadn't been able to get into trouble like some of his friends had been getting into.

At the time, he hadn't really appreciated his father for what he had been trying to teach his son, but now, looking back, he loved him all the more for it.

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**The first chapter of an eleven chapter endeavor centered around eleven verses in 1 Thessalonians. Reviews make my day; thanks!:) **


	2. Chapter 2

And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. _And_ be at peace among yourselves. (5:13)

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Carmen Martinez smiled as her husband walked into the kitchen after taking his shower.

"Can I have my kiss now?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

She gladly obliged him and when he sat down to eat, Carmen slid into the chair across from him. She bit absently on her thumbnail, watching him.

"What is it?" Javier asked in concern, seeing her worried gaze.

She sighed. "Nothing really. I... I'm sorry that we fought this morning. And I'm sorry that I doubted that you would find work. And I doubted God, too, I suppose."

Javi took her hand from across the table. "It is alright, Carmen, I have already forgiven and forgotten. I felt the same way, but God came through for us, just like he always does. And God forgives us too, you know that. There's no need to worry anymore about it. Everything is good right now, so let's just have a peaceful evening together, since the children are already in bed. How does that sound?"

"Wonderful," Carmen decided.

"Good." Javier squeezed her hand and Carmen grinned.

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**The second chapter of an eleven-chapter endeavor centered around eleven verses in 1 Thessalonians. Reviews make my day; thanks!:)**


	3. Chapter 3

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all _men_. (5:14)

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"Marcos Martinez," Carmen warned loudly as her son came barreling through the living room. Again. "I told you to stop running in the house! Now if you don't, no dessert after supper, am I clear?"

Marcos skidded to a walk. "Si, Mama."

Carmen took a deep breath. "Good."

Then she headed into the schoolroom to check on Isabel, who had been having trouble with a reading page the last time Carmen had looked in on her.

"How are you doing in here?" Carmen asked, leaning over her five-year old's-desk.

"I don't get it!" Isabel exclaimed impatiently. "The words don't make sense. It's too hard to learn to read English!"

Carmen crouched beside the desk, settling in for the long haul. "Why don't you read the words aloud to me?" Carmen suggested. "Maybe it will be easier that way."

"B-a-t." Isabel sounded out slowly. "B-a-i-t." Isabel's eyebrows scrunched together. "Bay-I-t? What is that?"

"No," Carmen corrected gently. "The 'I' doesn't make a sound."

"So it's like 'bat'?"

"No, not quite." Carmen patiently explained the phonics of the word to her daughter once again.

The eyes of both mother and daughter lit up when Isabel triumphantly declared, "It's 'bait'! I get it now!"

"Good job, Isabel!" Carmen declared, giving her a high-five.

It was the sparkle in her daughter's eye when she got it that made the work of teaching her children worth the struggle, even though it sometimes required a bottomless well of patience to do it.

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**The third chapter of an eleven-chapter endeavor centered around eleven verses in 1 Thessalonians. Reviews make my day; thanks!:)**


	4. Chapter 4

See that none render evil for evil unto any _man_; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all _men_. (5:15)

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"Stop it, Marcos!" Isabel yelled.

Carmen took a deep breath before she turned the corner and intervened In the argument going on between her two children.

"Marcos hit me!" Isabel complained as soon as she spotted her mother.

"Because you hit me first!" Marcos defended himself.

"You tore my book!"

"I told you that it was an accident!"

Isabel opened her mouth to argue further but Carmen stopped her.

"Both of you were wrong to hit each other." Carmen declared. "You're brother and sister and you love each other, don't you?"

They each looked at the other warily before nodding. "_Si_."

"Then, please, act like it." Carmen requested tiredly.

"I'll go get the tape." Isabel said. "Can you fix my book, _Mama_?"

"I'll help." Marcos volunteered cheerfully.

Carmen smiled. "Alright."

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**The fourth chapter of an eleven-chapter endeavor centered around eleven verses in 1 Thessalonians. Reviews make my day; thanks!:)**


	5. Chapter 5

Rejoice evermore. (5:16)

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"I can't breathe, Mommy." Isabel complained.

Carmen, still kneeling on the floor and clinging to Isabel and Marcos, laughed at herself and released the kids. She stood shakily to her feet, putting the phone back in its cradle.

"_Gracias, Dios_." She whispered one more time.

A smile found its way onto her face, and she doubted that it would ever leave.

Right now felt so much different from last night, even from three minutes ago.

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**The fifth chapter of an eleven-chapter endeavor centered around eleven verses in 1 Thessalonians. Reviews make my day; thanks!:)**


	6. Chapter 6

Pray without ceasing. (5:17)

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Javier and Carmen sat in the living room, each with a child on their lap.

Sensing something was amiss, Isabel asked, "What's wrong, Mommy?"

Carmen bit her lip and looked to Javi for an explanation for the children. Javier took a deep breath and calmly explained to the duo, in terms that they would understand, the situation with Mr. Tyson and the ultimatum that he'd given to their father.

Then he said softly, "Your _mama _and I would like you to pray with us about it before you both go off to bed.

Isabel and Marcos nodded solemnly and the four of them bowed their heads. One by one, all four of them led in prayer, and then Carmen took the two to bed.

When she reentered the living room, Javier was on his knees, having resumed praying. With an inaudible sigh, Carmen slid to her knees beside him and took his hand, bowing her head once again. They passed the long night earnestly pleading with their God.

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**The sixth chapter of an eleven-chapter endeavor centered around eleven verses in 1 Thessalonians. Reviews make my day; thanks!:)**


	7. Chapter 7

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. (5:18)

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Carmen sighed as she looked at the rice and beans that she had set out for hers, Isobel's, and Marcos' lunch. Like the kids, she was growing tired of the fare, but with Javi's work being so hit and miss, it was all that they could afford.

"Isabel, Marcos, time for lunch!" Carmen called the two of them to the table.

Both of them set up whining as soon as they saw what was on the plates.

"I don't want rice and beans again!" Isabel complained.

"I know, but it is what we have and it is what I put on your plates, so you eat that or you don't eat. Alright?"

Isabel huffed and sat in her chair. Marcos began to dig right in.

"Marcos," Carmen reminded. "Have we prayed over the food yet?"

"I don't want to thank God for more rice and beans." Marcos stated.

"Well then, thank God that you have food at all. If rice and beans is what He wants to give us, then rice and beans is what we thank Him for."

Now it was Marcos' turn to sigh as the three of them joined hands around the table and closed their eyes.

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**The seventh chapter of an eleven-chapter endeavor centered around eleven verses in 1 Thessalonians. Reviews make my day; thanks!:)**


	8. Chapter 8

Quench not the Spirit. (5:19)

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As she leaned against the kitchen counter, Carmen Martinez was struggling, really struggling, to understand. After all that they had already been put through in immigrating to the United States, why would God allow Javier to lose his job – again? Javi had even liked doing the construction work, she knew he had. It had been an okay job money-wise too. So why had God taken it from her husband?

They were faithful attendants to the church of which they were members. Javier was a marvelous husband and father. She tried her best as a wife and mother. For being as young as they were, the children were reasonably well-behaved. They tithed of what little money that had. They prayed, they even homeschooled their children so that they could get a Godly foundation in their lives.

So why had God taken Javi's job once again? Was she actually supposed to believe one more time that the next job Javi got was going to hold something better for their family? She sighed. Maybe it was true this time around, but sometimes it was really hard to believe that – believing that God would take care of them, that He had a better plan for her family. Was she really supposed to believe that when they barely had any gas in the car and she had next to nothing to feed the kids?

In moments like these, the truth was sometimes, especially on days like this one, it was hard not to let the difficulties in her life "quench… the Spirit" that she had been given by her LORD. But then again, maybe this time – just maybe – something good would come of all of this. She had to believe so.

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**The eighth chapter of an eleven-chapter endeavor centered around eleven verses in 1 Thessalonians. Reviews make my day; thanks!:)**


	9. Chapter 9

Despise not the prophesyings. (5:20)

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Lunch break was over; it was time to go back to work. Feeling a little depressed, Javier laid aside his Bible, which he had been reading as he ate. He loved God's Word, but some things in it were simply disheartening. Prophesies about the end times – about times that seemed startlingly close to the ones that they were living in today.

Javier didn't particularly want to think about those hard times that would come – harder times then even he had ever even known – if not for him, then for his children. He didn't particularly want them to have to go through the things that the Bible talked about.

But then again, wasn't that what his job was? To teach them, to get them ready to meet the LORD, so that they wouldn't have to suffer those things? Wasn't that why they all four had a family devotion every night? Wasn't that why he and Carmen had taught the children how to pray? Wasn't that why Isabel and Marcos were being homeschooled for now, so that they could get that good, Godly foundation that they needed?

A smile tilted his lips upward as he went back to his job. Maybe he just needed to trust God to move in his children's lives and in the lives of those around the world, and wait and see what happened.

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**The ninth chapter of an eleven-chapter endeavor centered around eleven verses in 1 Thessalonians. Reviews make my day; thanks!:)**


	10. Chapter 10

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (5:21)

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Javier blinked in confusion as he watched Adam Mitchell get back in his truck and drive away again. The man must have an appetite as big as an elephant's if he was still hungry! Shrugging off Adam's strange exit, Javier turned back to the work at hand. He wondered, though, what on earth the odd conversation that he'd just had was about.

First the other man had gotten out of his truck, a cop's expression firmly in place, and then he had started quizzing him about his name, the job that they were doing together on the shed, and even his kidneys. And just as soon as he had come, he had left, off to get _more _food.

Regardless, though, Javier had meant what he said when he had told Adam how important this job was to him and his family. And apparently whatever Adam had wanted to figure out he had gotten settled. Javier shrugged again. _Good for him,_ he decided, picking up a level.

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**The tenth chapter of an eleven-chapter endeavor centered around eleven verses in 1 Thessalonians. Reviews make my day; thanks!:)**


	11. Chapter 11

Abstain from all appearance of evil. (5:22)

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_Maybe it's not wrong; it just looks that way! _Carmen's anxious words played through Javier's head for the hundredth time as he tossed and turned in bed. He massaged his forehead and sat up, giving up on the idea of going to sleep. He threw the blankets off and stood up beside the bed, grabbing his Bible off of the nightstand. He made his way into the dining room, flipped on the light over the table, and sat down.

He flipped his Bible open and began to read at random. He was so tired though that the words and verses blurred into each other. Until he came to one verse in particular.

_Abstain from all appearance of evil. _

The verse jumped vividly off of the page. It was a blunt answer to Carmen's one hope, and admittedly Javier's as well. But something told him that it was really just a confirmation of the answer that he already knew he would give to Mr. Tyson. He would "abstain from all appearance of evil" even if it meant that he would lose his job, because in the end, no matter what, that would be better for him and for his family.

And then, with his decision consciously made, he could finally go to sleep and be at peace about it all.

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**The last chapter of an eleven-chapter endeavor centered around eleven verses in 1 Thessalonians. Reviews make my day; thanks!:)**


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